The chemical supercharging of racing engines has been used for some time in the racing and high performance vehicle industry for applying a sudden burst of power to the vehicle engine for increased engine horsepower and torque. One type of chemical supercharging is accomplished with nitrous oxide which is a chemical compound of nitrogen and oxygen commonly known as an oxidizer. When nitrous oxide, which under pressure is in liquid form, is exposed to the heat of combustion it disassociates into its free elements of oxygen and nitrogen. When the nitrous oxide is injected into an internal combustion engine, it will create a very lean condition in the combustion chamber. This is alleviated by injecting additional fuel simultaneously with the nitrous oxide. When this is accomplished, the vehicle has an instant power gain and will deliver increased horsepower and torque to the engine. This will provide a sudden burst of power to the vehicle for use in the final stretch of a race or for passing another vehicle at a critical time in the race.
Heretofore, existing nitrous charging systems consist of a cylinder or container holding a supply of the nitrous oxide under pressure, for example, approximately 900 psi. The cylinder is connected by a conduit to the carburetor of the engine having a solenoid actuated valve in the conduit or supply line. The solenoid valve is operated by the driver from within the vehicle at the instant that the sudden burst of power is desired. However, the supply container of nitrous oxide must be relatively small to avoid increasing the weight of the racing vehicle and due to space limitations therein. This presents a serious problem in that the pressure of the nitrous oxide is rapidly dissipated upon opening of the solenoid valve by the driver. For example, if the nitrous oxide is maintained in a usual supply cylinder at a pressure of 900 psi, this pressure will drop to approximately 600 psi within three or four seconds upon the liquid nitrous oxide being supplied to the engine due to its closed environment within the cylinder. This rapid drop in pressure will affect the amount of nitrous oxide supplied to the carburetor resulting in an improper mixture of the oxygen which is released by the nitrous oxide with the fuel being simultaneously injected into the carburetor. This improper mixture results in inefficient and unsatisfactory performance of the engine. Thus, the most efficient charging of the engine occurs for only a relatively short period of time before the efficiency drops off considerably.
Therefore, the need exists for an improved system for charging a high performance vehicle particularly with liquid nitrous oxide, which will maintain a constant predetermined flow of the nitrous oxide for a longer duration of time than is presently possible with exisiting nitrous oxide cylinders without increasing materially the size and weight of the fuel charging system.